All Together
by Shadow's Sorceress
Summary: After a series of Death Eater attacks, Hermione Grainger along with Padma and Parvati Patil, Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson and Susan Bones are all forced to live at the Burrow with the Weasley's and Harry in the summer before their 7th year. Secret relationships and unlikely friendships are formed as the group learns to get along and work together for the sake of the Order.
1. Chapter 1 Rescuing Hermione

Chapter 1

Rescuing Hermione

Hermione felt like she had just fallen asleep when suddenly someone was gently shaking her.

"Hermione, wake up." A man's voice said urgently. "Come on you've got to get up, there are Death Eaters coming and we have to leave right now."

"What?" she exclaimed as she bolted up into a sitting position. Nothing seemed to want to make sense as she struggled into wakefulness. She shook her head as if trying to clear it so that she could properly process what was happening.

The voice belonged to Bill Weasley. He was standing in her bedroom trying to wake her up because Death Eaters were coming to her house.

"What?" she exclaimed again.

"Death Eaters are coming, they will be here any minute." he stated. "So I suggest you get up so we can get out of here."

"Death Eaters? Here? But my parents, they..."

"Remus and Tonks are port-keying them to safety as we speak. I have one here for me and you, but we have to leave now." Bill interrupted hurriedly.

Hermione blinked as the cob webs cleared from her sleep addled brain. She looked closely at Bill and his smooth face then she grabbed her wand off of her night stand, jumped to her feet pointing it at the redhead. "What happened to your scars? The Bill Weasley I know would have scars from the Battle at Hogwarts."

"I started using a glamor charm for my scars so that I wouldn't scare people and you know I'm Bill, because last summer at the Burrow you and I shared the last piece of coconut cake as a midnight snack, and never said a word when Ron got in trouble for it the next day," he said quickly. "Now if you are satisfied it's me we really need to go. Unless, of course, you would rather stay. I'm sure Rita Skeeter would love to get her hands on a picture of you trading wand fire with Lucius Malfoy while you were still in your flannel PJ's." he teased.

Hermione glared at Bill for a second then lowered her wand. "Do I have time to change."

"Make it quick." Bill said as he turned around to give her privacy.

"I thought Lucius was in Azkaban?" Hermione asked as she pulled a pair of jeans and a sweater out of her wardrobe.

"He is." Bill confirmed."He was just the first Death Eater I thought." of Bill said.

"Done." Hermione responded. Bill turned to find Hermione stuffing her feet into her muggle trainers. He reached into his pocket and produced a pocket watch with a cracked face.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked as they heard a hissing noise, like cold water hitting something hot.

"No time to explain. That's the protective wards the Order put on your house." Bill told her in a whisper "The Death Eaters are here, and are trying to break them. We have got to go, now!" he said as he held out the watch. Hermione placed a finger on the watch as Bill drew his wand and pointed it at the cracked time piece then muttered "Portus". With a familiar jerk at the navel, they were both gone.

Hermione had only traveled by portkey once before and hadn't really liked it. She, along with half of the Weasley offspring had ended up landing hard on the ground, so when she landed on her backside, in the middle of the kitchen at the Burrow, she wasn't too surprised. But she was, however, surprised to find the Burrow empty.

Even at this time of night, or early morning as it was, Mrs. Weasley should have be in the kitchen like always, there to greet her new house guests with tea or soup and a comforting hug. But the house was strangely quiet. Almost too quiet. There was no sound at all. Hermione looked at Bill who seemed to be just as confused as she was. Then for the second time that night they heard the hissing of wards trying to be broken.

"Oh, shit!" was all Bill could manage to say before there was a loud explosion of the wards being broken. He grabbed Hermione's hand "Hold on tight."

She grabbed on as tight as she could as she felt him start to turn away from her, and in an instant she felt as if she was being pressed into nothingness. She, of course could apparate alone, she had gotten her apparition license before school ended, but she still wasn't used to the feeling of being squeezed through a tube. Just when she thought she would black out from the lack of oxygen, she was suddenly breathing in the cool night air.

Everything around her was pitch black. She couldn't see anything. She had no clue as to where they were. If it wasn't for the fact that she was still clutching Bills arm she would have been terrified. "Bill, where are we?" she whispered.

Bill whispered back "We are in the alley at Grimmauld Place, but something isn't right here. There should be more lights. It's normally dark, but not this dark."

Suddenly the warmth of the night air was replaced with extreme cold. As the puddle next to them slowly turned to ice, they looked at each other. Both knew that could only mean one thing. Dementors. Almost as soon as they felt the bone chilling cold, they heard the rattling breaths of a dementor at the end of the alley. It knew they were there and it was coming for them. Bill raised his wand and shouted "Expecto Patronum" and a large cat burst out of his wand. It charged down the alley with all the grace of a lion on the hunt. Hermione barely had time to register that the shimmering beauty of Bill's Patronus was actually Lion before she realized that the dementor wasn't alone. At the other end of the alley another dementor was coming at them. She had no sooner raised her wand and shouted the spell when her otter was out of her own wand and heading toward the second dementor.

"Hermione, we need to get out of here." Bill said, watching as the two patronus' held off the dementors. "Grab my arm." She did, and with another twist they were gone.

Even though it was still dark Hermione immediately noticed the change of environment when she and Bill reappeared. The air was warm and thick, and a light rain fell around them. Off in the distance she could hear what sounded like waves crashing onto the shore leading her to wonder where they were. The sliver of moon that should have been in the sky was hidden behind large groups of dark rain clouds making it almost impossible to see. Bill lit his wand and the light revealed that they were standing on a path with heavy foliage and trees on each side. Hermione noticed a group of small trees to their right had grown up twisting around each other. Hermione thought it was odd until Bill turned to look at them.

"Hermione, look right at these trees and think 'Pharaoh's Sanctuary.'" he whispered in her ear.

Hermione looked at the trees and thought the words Bill had just told her. The trees in front of her and Bill started to split apart about a foot off the ground and continued to split until there was large archlike opening.

"Follow me." Bill said grabbing her hand to lead her through the arch. Once she had stepped through, the trees closed up behind her. "Now, light your wand and stay close and be careful. This path is steep."

Hermione lit her wand and followed Bill down a narrow path that sharply descended downward to the left, around what appeared to be the naked flat side of a cliff. To their right, what started out as trees and foliage on rocky ground slowly turned into a jagged cliff face as well, though it was not as high as the one left.

As the path made a sharp turn to the left around a equally as sharp corner of the cliff, Bill warned her to be careful as the path gave way from solid ground to a steep set of rocky steps that had formed into the side of the cliff. The rain had made them slick and he didn't want her to fall. A waist high rock wall sat on the outer edge of the steps and from what Hermione could tell there was nothing but air on the other side of the wall leading her to believe that they were somewhere high up. Finally after what seemed like fifty long steps down, Hermione stepped onto a large, stone, circular ledge. The outside of the ledge, like the steps, was surrounded by the rock wall. The inside of the ledge was the rocky face of the cliff. In the middle of the cliff was an old wooden door. It seemed like an odd place for wooden door to be but the longer Hermione as around magic the less things like this surprised her.

"Let's get inside." Bill said as he muttered a couple of spells and opened the door.

Hermione was expecting the area behind the door to be some sort of cave, with the walls floors and ceilings being made from the same rocks as the cliff, but when Bill flicked his wand to light a sconce on the wall, Hermione realized she couldn't have been more wrong. Stained, rough hewed wooden planks banked the walls of the rectangle room that wasn't much bigger than the single garage where Hermione's parents parked their car. The ceiling had the same rough hewn planks as the walls, but large dark stained wooden beams separated the planks at even intervals. The floor was also made up of wooden planks, but instead of being rough, they had been sanded smooth. The small room looked more like a cabin than the cave that Hermione had imagined. But again,while she was a bit more surprised about this than she was about the odd door in the middle of a cliff, she had been inside magical tents so the cabin inside a cave wasn't wasn't as surprising as it could have been.

To the left of the door was a small kitchen sink sitting beside it on the adjacent wall was a small cooking stove. On the wall to right of the door was a small rock fireplace. A small wooden table with four chairs sat in front of the fireplace, and behind the table on the back wall was a bed. To the left of the bed was a door that led into what appeared to be a small second room.

After Hermione had taken in the room, Bill pulled out a chair at the table and motioned for Hermione to do the same. You didn't have to be the brightest witch of your age to figure out that the Death Eater attacks tonight had half of the Order on the run and that this small cabin was probably one of their safe houses.

Bill cleared his throat and let out a deep breath. "I'm not going to belittle your intelligence by telling you that everything is alright. We both know that you know better. I'm not sure what happened tonight but I know that whatever it was it must have happened quick. Mum, Dad, and Ginny were all at the Burrow asleep whenever I left with Tonks and Remus to come get you. Neither them nor the Burrow was mentioned when we received the warning about the attacks."

"What warning? Why didn't the order let me know so I could be prepared." Hermione asked.

"We didn't get the warning until about ten minutes before I got to you." Bill explained. "A spy that we have working inside of You-Know-Who's camp sent McGonagall a patronus to let her know about the attacks. Tonks, Remus, Hagrid, Madeye, Charlie and myself was with her at the Burrow getting ready to discuss something that Professor Mcgonagall deemed important to come to the Burrow at four a.m. when she could talk with us all, when she got the information that Voldemort was giving his Death Eaters orders to attack two houses; yours, and the home of someone called, Patil, or something like that."

Hermione gasped.

"I assume you know the Patil family?" Bill asked softly.

"Parvati and Padma are both in my year at school. Parvati is in Gryffindor with me. Her twin sister is a Ravenclaw."

"Apparently, You-Know-Who was hoping to kidnap you and one of the Patil girls, in hopes that Harry would come after the two of you and rescue you. When we found out where they were attacking, Tonks, Remus and myself agreed that we should come and get you because your parents knew us and would trust us, while McGonagall, Madeye, Charlie and Hagrid went after the Patil's. Your parents were supposed to go with Remus and Tonks to a safe house I was supposed to take you to the Burrow."

"Is this the safe house my parents were supposed to come to?" Hermione asked.

"No. They were being taken to an Order safe house. This place is mine. No one else knows about it." Bill paused "I take that back, I told Fleur that I inherited this place, but she never wanted to come here, so she doesn't know it's exact location. Not that she needs to now." he said, adding the last part bitterly.

Hermione had been told by Ginny that Bill and Fleur and broken up shortly after the battle at Hogwarts. According to Ginny, Fleur had insisted on going back to France after she and Bill were married to get away from the violence and destruction of the Death Eaters and Voldemort so they could raise their kids away from the war, but Bill had wanted to stay and fight with his family. Ginny told Hermione that the fight that had ensued had been epic and resulted in Fluer throwing her ring at Bill and leaving the Burrow. Hermione also knew that no one at the Burrow had seen or heard from Fleur until yesterday when a picture of her draped around Victor Krum after his winning match against the Ugandans had been splashed across the front page of the Daily Prophet with the headline 'Krum Wins Match and French Beauty.' So Hermione could see why he was bitter.

"So what do we do now?" Hermione asked.

"We wait." Bill said with a sigh. "In an Order meeting last year, after the attack on the Burrow at Christmas, we decided as a group that if our homes were attacked that we should apparate to Grimmauld Place, and if Grimmauld Place was for some reason inaccessible then we should all apparate to a safe house. Each family in the Order has a safe house to go to. The general rule is to wait three days to let any attacks die down, then each member has a specfic place in Britain where they apparate to meet with other members to see if it's safe to return."

"Where do we apparate to?" Hermione asked curiously?

"When our three days is up, _I_ will apparate to the spot and find out if it's safe to return and where we need to return to. Normally it would be the Burrow or Grimmauld Place, but after tonight, I don't know if the Burrow will still be standing. Bellatrix tried to burn it down at Christmas and I'm sure if she is given the chance she will try it again."

"Maybe we will get lucky and both of our houses will still be standing when we return." Hermione replied solemnly.

"Maybe." Bill replied.

"Do you think Charlie and my parents made it to their safe houses? " Hermione asked.

"I'm sure your parents did. Remus and Tonks were taking them straight to the safe house. As for Charlie we won't know for sure until we get back." Bill watched Hermione unconsciously bite her bottom lip in worry. He reached out and grabbed her hand. "It's going to be okay. If I know Charlie he is probably sitting in his own safe house wondering if we are okay."

"I hope so." Hermione said giving him a small smile.


	2. Chapter 2 Rescuing Padma

**A/N I do not own any of the characters in this story, just the ideas.**

Chapter 2

Rescuing Padma

"What was that?" Padma Patil asked, looking at her sister they both sat up in their beds. A loud crashing noise from outside had awaken them both from deep sleep.

"I don't know," said the girl's sister who was sleeping in the bed next to her. "but it sounds like someone has started a war in the front yard." No sooner was the words out of the girls mouth when the window across the room shattered. Both girls screamed and rolled off their beds reaching for the wands on their nightstands.

"Holy crap." Parvati said in a panicked whisper. "What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know" said Padma, but it sounds like the way the Room of Requirement did when we were all hurling hexes and curses during D.A. meetings. You don't think someone is attacking _us_ do you?"

"I don't know why they would, but I'm going to find out." She said as she crawled toward the window and raised up enough to look out. A gasp escaped her and she sank back down quickly. "There are two people out there in black robes and white masks. I think they may be Death Eaters."

"What?" Padma asked. "Why would they come here. We haven't done anything. We are pure bloods for crying out loud."

"I don't know but Mum and Dad are out on the front lawn fighting them off and they are probably going to need some help." Parvati said "Hopefully those D.A. meetings we went to will come in handy."

"Surely you don't mean you are going down there? We should probably just wait." Padma said. "I'm sure the Aurors will be here anytime."

Parvati grabbed her sister's hand and started dragging her toward their bedroom door. "I bet most of the people who lost their lives to Death Eaters thought the Aurors would get there on time too. You know what they did to Dumbledore. If we don't fight them they will kill Mum and Dad, and probably us to."

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Parvati whispered,"Let's go out the back door. We can come around the side of the house and sneak up on them. There is only two of them. They won't be any match for the four of us especially if we stun them before they even know we are here."

Once they reached the back door, Parvati decided that splitting up would be a better way to ambush the Death eaters. Padma, not wanting to be alone, didn't really think so, but she agreed to it nonetheless.  
Parvati chose to go around to the right leaving Padma to go to the left. Padma, who slowly inched her way around the side of the house, eyeballed the small wooded area to to left of the house that had always protected them from the view of the muggles that lived next door. As a child the woods had been a friendly, happy place to play. But tonight those woods seemed very ominous and forbidding. Anything could be hiding in there. Including Death Eaters.

Padma had almost made it to the corner of the house when an a series of pops announced more people in black robes and masks. She gasped as she done a quick count. Six more Death Eaters, making eight total. She knew there was no way that she, Parvati and her parents could fight that many Death Eaters off. She watched the new group who, instead of advancing on her parents and the fight that was taking place, held back as if having a discussion. Not knowing what else to do she listened hard to see what they were saying.

"Forget them," one of the Death Eaters said "our object is to get the girls. Preferably the one that went with Potter to that dance. If...aargh!"

The speaker was interrupted by Parvati shooting a stunning spell into the group. One of the big hulking ones in the group fell down as the rest started to scatter. Padma was just about to run for the back of the house, when she was spotted by one of the Death Eaters. She ducked as he shouted "stupefy," and the bolt of light that shot from his wand, barely missed her. Reacting on instinct alone, Padma shouted a blasting charm, and knocked the man back about twenty feet, causing him to lose his his wand, and after he landed hard on the ground she noticed he appeared to be unconscious. Before she could turn to run another man in mask came after her.

"Stupefy!" she shouted throwing the spell toward the man, but he ducked and started to shout his curse in return. Before he could shout the spell, Padma shouted, "Protego" and the spell that was cast, was reflected causing the man to duck his own spell. Across the yard Padma could hear Parvati engaged in her own battle. Padma blocked another spell from the man and retaliated with one her own. The man once again dodged her spell and looked a little irritated. Apparently they hadn't expected a fight from her or Parvati. 'Thank Merlin I went to the D.A meetings' she thought, 'I'm at least keeping up, but I don't know for how long. We need help.' padma thought of someone she knew would come to her rescue if he knew she was in trouble, but she also knew that there was no way that he would know Death Eaters had attacked her home in the middle of the night.

She started to fire off another spell, when she caught sight of another person in a mask. She waved her wand and shouted protego, just in time to ward off a spell. She was just about to fire off a silencing charm at the new masked man, when the man directly in front of her fell down as if hit from behind. She looked up to see the familiar faces of some her Hogwarts professors and a man with a shock of short red hair. 'It's Charlie!' she thought herself, extremely relieved to see him. 'He's here!".

Charlie had his wand pointed their direction and she guessed that it was his stunning spell that had made the man in front of her go down. In the shock of seeing him standing there she had forgotten the man to her right, and wasn't prepared when she saw him raise his wand out of the corner of her eye.

"Incarcerate!" he shouted. Padma could feel invisible ropes wrap around her, and she fell to the ground. She tried to struggle free but wasn't able to move. When the ropes had wrapped around her arms she had dropped her wand, it lay just a few inches from her but she couldn't reach it. From where she lay she could see that Charlie was now trading hexes with the man who had her trapped her in the ropes.

She watched unable to do anything. If she could only get her wand she could help. She wiggled around on the ground and finally after an about minute was able to clumsily pick her wand. She fumbled around until she had her wand pointed at the ropes and muttered "Finite". The invisible ropes disappeared and she was free. She stood quickly and pointed her wand at the man that was still battling with Charlie. "Petrificus Totalus". The man froze in place and fell over.

"Are you alright?" Charlie asked in a panicked voice as he ran to her side. She nodded. "Come on." he said grabbing her hand "I'm supposed to get you somewhere safe."

"Parvati, we have to help Parvati." she said attempting to pull away.

"Hagrid and McGonagall have her." Just then there was a several cracks across the yard. They turned to see a three more Death Eaters. "Grab my arm." Charlie shouted. Padma reached out, took hold of his offered arm, and Charlie turned sharply disapparating them away from the chaos.

When they reappeared, Padma looked around in the darkness and could make out the outline of a ramshackled house. It looked as if magic was the only thing holding parts of it up. Padma was about to ask where they were when they heard voices from inside the house.

"I know I heard a noise from outside." came a man's voice.

Charlie grabbed Padma's hand a pulled her a few feet toward the low stone wall that separated the small yard and the garden. He picked her up and sat her over the wall, then climbed over himself. He pulled her down on to the ground and clamped his hand over her mouth as they heard the door to the house creaked open.

"I know I heard a noise." the man repeated again. "It sounded like it was right here in the yard."

"You were probably just hearing things, Wormtail" a familiar voice drawled.

Padma's eyes widened as she looked up at Charlie. That voice belonged to Professor Snape.

"I still think it's best to check and make sure" Wormtail whined.

"Well, do you see anyone Wormtail?" the man drawled again.

"No, but they could be hiding."

"Well seeing as there is only one obvious spot to hide, shall I check it?" The man drawled menacingly.

Charlie and Padma both held their breath as they heard footprints approaching. The footsteps reached the fence and they both looked up into the black eyes of Severus Snape. Snape barely gave them a half glance, when he turned to back to face the other two men. "Nothing but garden gnomes. Now, since the Weasley girl is obviously not here, I suggest we light the fires. Wormtail, why don't you run along to the Dark Lord and give him our report. Mulciber and I will stay to make sure the house burns to the ground."

Wormtail glared at Snape then disappeared with a pop. He had been gone no longer than a few seconds when Snape pointed his wand at Mulciber and said "Stupefy" in lazy drawl. Mulciber fell to the ground. Snape walked over to the fence and peered over it at Charlie and Padma with his usual scowl on his face.

"Mr. Weasley, Miss Patil, there isn't much time so I suggest you sit up and listen closely."

"What makes you think we are going to listen to a murder like you, Snape?" Charlie asked as he got to his feet pointing his wand at Snape. "We should just turn you into the ministry. I'm sure there is room in Azkaban for you."

"Weasley, if you send me to Azkaban the Dark Lord will have me out of there before you can blink an eye. By _killing_ Dumbledore, I have became his most trusted servant. This is good for me and for the Order of the Phoenix, because now the Dark Lord fully believes that I alone have been loyal to him as his spy. I have become his right hand man. I now have privileged information that I can give to the Order to help them."

"You killed Dumbledore." Charlie spat "How can you even think that we would believe you?"  
"Yes, I killed Dumbledore and that could not be helped" Snape said quietly. "I had no choice and you will soon find out why. I have hidden some vials inside of a vault in Gringotts Bank. Vault number 618. Inside these vials are memories, they will explain everything. I have left a note with them explaining any further detail. The key for the vault is now hidden in the floo powder in your mother's kitchen. I don't have time to explain more."

Snape walked over to where Mulciber was lying and hauled him to his feet, paused for a second and then turned and continued. "I told Wormtail that we would burn the Burrow, as the Dark Lord has requested. As you can see I have no intention of doing so. I suggest that you tell your father that I have given him the way to to keep his friends and family safe and hidden." Then with a pop the two men disappeared.

"What did he mean by that?" Padma asked quietly.

"I'm not sure." Charlie said quietly, but then he exploded. "Dammit, I should not have let him go. I could have stunned him. Why did I let him go?" Charlie slammed his fist into the wall and the sound of bones crunching made Padma gasp. She reached out and he jerked his hand away.

"Charlie, let me see." Padma demanded softly. "I might be able to fix it."  
"It's broken. I'll need a healer" he stated.  
"You know that I have been studying with Madam Pomfrey, I might be able to fix it. Come on, we don't need you injured now."

Charlie let out a breath of irritation then slowly held out his hand, Padma muttered a few spells and the pain in his hand ceased and he was able to flex it. "It's not a permanent fix but it will do until you see a real healer."

Charlie looked down at her than pulled her into a hug, and let out a long breath. "Thank you." He said. Then he looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry, love. Do you forgive me?"

"I'll forgive you as soon as you tell me what is going on." Padma said with a small smile.

"Alright, but not out here." Charlie stated. "Let's go in the house and once we know it's clear I'll tell you everything I know."

Charlie and Padma entered the door that led them into the Kitchen. After a Charlie cast a Homenum Revelio on the house and the spell showed no human presence, Charlie and Padma both took a seat at the Weasleys large Kitchen table. Charlie explained that he and Bill had been about to have a meeting with Professor Mcgonagall at the Burrow, when the meeting was interrupted with news of the attacks. He explained that Voldemort's plan was to lure Harry into a trap by kidnapping girls that had meant something to him, so that maybe he would rescue them.

"But Parvati and I are only friends with Harry, he doesn't fancy either one of us." Padma stated.

"No, but Parvati went to the Yule Ball with him. That would be enough for You-Know-Who." Charlie replied.

"So he wasn't after me?" Padma asked.

"No, but the death eaters would have either taken you for added insurance, or they would have killed you." Charlie said quietly.

"But you made sure that wouldn't happen by coming to my rescue." she said.

"I was afraid we was going to be too late." Charlie said quietly. "By the time we found out about the attacks Death Eaters had already gotten to your house. I almost died when I saw you battling with two Death Eaters. I hit the first one with that stunner, than I saw you fall over. I was ready to kill that ruddy bas..."

"He just hit me with incarcerous. I was able to wiggle around and get my wand to help you out." Padma said.

Charlie reached over and pulled her into his lap. "I was afraid you were hurt." he said as wrapped his arms around her and lightly kissed the top of her head. "Then I turn around and bring you someplace just as dangerous. This was supposed to be my safe place to bring you. When Bill, Mcgonagall, Tonks, Lupin, Hagrid and myself left everyone here was still in bed. They must have gotten word that there was to be an attack and abandoned ship, so to speak."

"So what do we do now?" Padma asked.

"I have a safe house we can go to but I don't want to go there and be out of contact with the others unless it's absolutely necessary. I can't take you to Order head quarters because I'm not the secret keeper. My only other option is to try and contact the Order by other means. And then we need to find that key that Snape was talking about."

"Okay how do we do that?" Padma asked.

"I think the floo would be our best bet." Charlie said

"But didn't Snape say the key was hidden in the floo powder?" Padma asked

"Yeah, so?" He asked

"Well than that would mean that to use the floo we are going to have to get the key first. What if the key is dangerous. It could have poison on it, it could be a portkey just like the Triwizard tournament cup. Touching the key might be some kind of trap." Padma replied.

"You could be right." Charlie said. "I know where Mom keeps the floo powder that's not in the pot. We will use it instead." Charlie led the way to the Kitchen, and found the extra jar of floo powder, that Mrs. Weasley kept in the cabinet. Padma sat down at the table as Charlie knelt in front of the fireplace. He used his wand to light a fire and then then threw in a pinch of powder. When the flames turned green, he stuck his head in and called out "Twelve, Grimmauld place".

Fireplaces and grates spun around his head and when it stopped he was looking into the drawing room at the Order's headquarters. His father, who had been right in front of the fireplace gave a startled jump.

"Charlie!" Mr. Weasley said excitedly, "We were beginning to worry. We have already heard from everyone else but you and Bill. We were afraid you didn't get to safety. Where are you... wait don't answer that over open floo. Do you have the Patil girl with you? Are you at your safe house?"

"Yes, I have Padma with me, no we are not at the safe house, but we are safe, at least for now." Charlie said. "I would send you an owl as to our whereabouts, but I'm afraid that sending _pig_ would give away our hiding place." Charlie said.

"Pig?" Mr Weasley asked in astonishment. "But that would mean you're at...

"Yes." said Charlie.

"But I thought it was...oh never mind. Hold on Son, some of us will be there shortly."

"I"ll be waiting." Charlie replied then broke the connection.


	3. Chapter 3 Padma and Charlie

**A/N I dont own any of this I just use it.**

Chapter 3 Padma and Charlie

Charlie stood up and turned away from the fire place. "I gave them a hint as to to our whereabouts. I'm pretty sure they will be here soon. We should probably wait on them to sort out the key business."

"I agree." Padma said. Then she looked at Charlie worriedly "Do you know if Parvati made it to safety?"

"Dad said that they had heard from everyone else so I am assuming they did." Charlie stated. He smiled confidently to help ease her worry. He looked out the window and then turned back to Padma. "The sky is starting to lighten up now. It's almost morning and we have a bit of free time. If you're hungry we are in a position where I can finally cook for you."

"Sounds good." Padma said as she watched Charlie pulled out ingredients and began to expertly cook breakfast. She couldn't help but smile. She and Charlie had secretly been sending each other letters for over a year now and he had bragged about how good of a cook he was. Now she was about to find out first hand. After a minute she smiled to herself again. When they had first started writing letters they were barely acquaintances but they had gotten to know each other through the letters, and oddly enough feelings had started to grow on each side and on New Years they had officially (and secretly) became a couple. If her parents ever found out, there would be hell pay. They already had herself and Parvati practically engaged to two of their of business colleagues who Padma despised.

Padma had tried to find something likable about the man her parents had intended for her to marry, but he was mean, ugly, wore terrible cologne and was old. He was at least as old her parents. Ironically it was his fault that she had bumped into Charlie in the first place. It was the day after Harry and his friends had left Hogwarts to go to the Ministry of Magic during fifth year. A couple of students had been hurt and her parents had sent a letter threatening to make her come home and marry so she could be away from the trouble at Hogwarts. She had been upset and was crying as she made her way up the owlery stairs to send back a letter when she bumped into Charlie.

 _Padma tried to stop the tears as she walked toward the owlery. Her parents couldn't make her quit school now. She only had two more years. She had just taken her OWL exams and was convinced she had done fairly well, despite all the craziness that had taken place this year. Besides, she didn't want to get married now, or anytime soon to anyone. She had plans to be a healer and would need more training after Hogwarts._

 _Tears were flowing faster than before as she started up the long, winding staircase to the Owlery. She wasn't paying any attention to where she was going and bumped into something large. She shrieked as she lost her balance, and started to fall, but before she knew what was happening a large hand shot out and caught her._

 _"Whoa, careful there." A man with red hair and lots of muscles said as he steadied her on her feet. He looked at her wet cheeks and red puffy eyes and became immediately concerned. "Are you alright, Miss?"_

 _"My name is Padma, Padma Patil and yes I'm fine." she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm just upset at my parents that's all."_

 _"Well Padma, I'm Charlie, Charlie Weasley" He said as he stuck out his hand._

 _Padma eyed his hand wearily._

 _"What's the matter, Do I have something on my hand" he asked as he wiped his palm on the pant leg of his muggle jeans._

 _"No, but you're a Weasley." Padma said slowly, then seeing him take offense she quickly added._

 _"Your Fred and George's brother, there is no telling what could be on your hand."_

 _Charlie grinned. "You've got a point there. But I could be more like Ron or Ginny."_

 _"Well if you're nice like Ginny, I suppose I could shake your hand. But if you're like Ron, I might be tempted to slug you."_

 _"Oh, not a Ron fan I see." Charlie said. "May I ask why not?"_

 _"He was my date for the Yule Ball last year, and he spent the entire time mad because Hermione Granger went with Victor Krum. He wouldn't even dance with me." she informed him shortly._

 _"That was probably fortunate for you." He said with a laugh, "Ron has two left feet and both of them are clubbed."_

 _Padma chuckled and held out her hand. "Yep, you are definitely more like Ginny. Anything to get a dig at Ron."_

 _"Yes, well now that I know he is going to live, it's fun again." he said shaking her hand._

 _"Oh, I'm so sorry." She said as she colored slightly. "I didn't mean to be so.."_

 _"It's alright, no harm done. Charlie said lightly. "Besides, when you came up those stairs you didn't seem to be thinking straight, and talking about Ron, distracted you."_

 _"Thank you, I was rather upset." Padma admitted._

 _"Is there anything I can do to help?" Charlie asked._

 _"No, it's just my parents." Then before she realized what she was doing she had told Charlie all about how her parents wanted her to leave school to get married and how she really wanted to stay so she could train to be healer._

 _"And besides that," she heard herself saying, "The man they want me to marry is old, and disgusting, and I would be only one of his wives. Apparently he has a whole harem. I wouldn't be aloud to do anything but serve him and bare his children."_

 _Charlie smiled sympathetically. "Well the good news is they can't make you get married until you're seventeen, and by then you will be of age. But they can take you out of Hogwarts. I guess you will have to work on them over the summer."_

 _"Well, at least I know I don't have to get married yet. That's a small relief anyway." Then she realized they had been sitting on the stairs for long time. "Oh, gosh, I hope my 'cry on your shoulder' session hasn't kept you from anything."_

 _"Not at all, I was just sending a letter to let my boss know that my family is fine and that I'll be back to work the day after tomorrow."_

 _"Where do you work?" she asked as she stood up and started to climb the stairs with him following._

 _"I work with dragons in Romania." He replied._

 _"I think I have heard Ron mention you before. Dragons, huh. That sounds scary and dangerous." she laughed._

 _"It can be but it's very exciting too." He said enthusiastically._

 _"I'll bet." she said as she reached for an owl. She couldn't quite reach the one she was wanting, so Charlie reached over and got it for her._

 _"Thanks." she said as she tied the letter to legs._

 _"No problem." he said. They both stood quietly and watched the bird as it flew away and out of sight._

 _"Well, I should probably be getting back." she said._

 _"Me too." said Charlie. They were both quiet as they walked back down the staircase. When they were back on the ground Padma started to walk toward the castle when Charlie spoke again. "Watch out for Fred and George, they are in the castle somewhere, and make sure you are real careful about shaking their hand."_

 _Padma laughed. "I will, and you try not to get eaten by dragons, and thanks for listening. It was nice to have someone to talk to."_

 _"Well if you ever need to talk, you can send me a letter in Romania. Just address it to Charlie Weasley, the Dragon colonies, Romania, and it will get to me."_

 _They both said a quick goodbye and went their separate ways._

 _Charlie came back to Hogwarts the next day to check on his brother and to see about Hermione's progress. As he was walking through the hall he was greeted by a familiar voice._

 _"Charlie!" Padma said sounding happy to see him "Are you back again?"_

 _"I am, and I promise there is nothing on my hand if you want to shake it." He said with a laugh. Padma laughed and shook his hand, this time noticing how large it was compared to her own small one and how the burns and callouses on it added to the intrigue of Charlie Weasley._

 _"Where are you headed?" He asked._

 _"The Library, if I don't return this book Madam Pince will have my head. Would you like to walk with me?"_

 _"Sure." he replied. "You seem to be in a better mood today."_

 _"My parents sent a letter this morning and they are going to discuss letting us come back to Hogwarts next year. My Mum seems to agree with my sister and I that Hogwarts is the safest place to be with the return of You-know-who. So getting to come back next year sounds promising."_

 _"You will definitely have to send me a letter and let me know for sure." He said._

 _They talked all the way to the library and back to the Great Hall entrance. Padma went in for dinner and Charlie left to go home to the Burrow. They didn't see each again all summer, but Padma wrote to him two weeks later to tell him that she was definitely getting to return to Hogwarts. And she gave him her OWL results as well. After her first letter they spent the remainder of summer writing to each other, and just learning about each other. They both began to look forward to each letter they would receive from the other._

 _When her parents would ask who the letters were from she would say school friends. She told Parvati they were from fellow Ravenclaws. At the end of the summer she wrote to him informing him that she was getting to go to Diagon Alley the day before term started, to pick up her school books and supplies, And though she wasn't sure why she included in the letter that they would stay at the Leaky Cauldron that night since it was closer to Kings Cross._

 _Charlie surprised her by showing up at Flourish and Blotts where he bought her a book on healing magic. During their conversation in the book she found out that he staying at the Leaky Cauldron as well. That night when Parvati went across the hall to stay in the room of her friend Lavender Brown, a very bold feeling Padma walked down to Charlie's door and knocked on it. She had been afraid things would be awkward, but she and Charlie had gotten to know each very well through their letters so they were like old friends. When she left his room that night they both gave each other a hug and that was when they both realized that their feelings might go a little deeper than just friendship._

 _They continued to write to each other over the next few months. Charlie hinted in a few of his letters that he would like to be more than friends, and Padma wanted more as well but was always worried about what her parents would say or do. They still wanted her to marry._

 _For Christmas that year he bought her a small heart shaped locket that would only open with a pass word that she set. Inside was a picture of him smiling and winking at her._

 _They finally got to see each other again on New Year's Eve at a bash that was being thrown by an old friend of her parents. Apparently this old friend had a son who worked with Charlie. They sat by each other at dinner and made polite conversation then when the dancing started they danced several times. Padma made him laugh by stating that she was glad he didn't have two clubbed left feet reminding him of what he had said about Ron the day they met at Hogwarts_

 _At ten minutes to Midnight, Charlie, found a secluded parlor._

 _"What are we doing in here?" Padma asked "Shouldn't we be in the ballroom getting ready for the count down."_

 _"Yes, we probably should." he admitted. "But you have to kiss someone at midnight and I want to kiss you. I can't do that in the ballroom in front of your parents who want you to marry some other guy."_

 _"You want to kiss_ me _at midnight?" she asked quietly._

 _"Yes?"_

 _"Why?" she asked even softer than before._

 _"Because, I love you, and I want to be with you. I want you to be my girlfriend."_

 _"Charlie, I care about you very much, and I could easily fall in love with you too, but my parents won't let us be together." Padma cried. "If they ever found out about our friendship they would pull me out of school and try to keep us from talking. They want me to Marry..."_

 _"I don't care what they want," Charlie interrupted trying to hold in his anger, "I only care about you and what you want, and I know you don't want to marry Rakesh. If you care about me we can be together. We can keep our relationship secret until you are out of Hogwarts then we can be together."_

 _"Where, in Romania?" she asked quietly. "Charlie I can't do my healer's training in Romania."_

 _" You can't do them married to Rakesh Nayar either. Look I don't have the details figured out just yet." he said desperately. "We'll work it out somehow. But for now, I just want the security of knowing you're mine, and that some Hogwarts boy isn't going to come and take you away from me."_

 _Padma looked at Charlie and smiled softly. "Oh Charlie, no one is going to take me from you." She was quiet for the space a few heartbeats then she sighed in agreement. "Alright, we will let the future work itself out, but for now, yes, I'll be your girlfriend, yes, I'll kiss you at midnight, and yes, I love you too."_

 _Charlie smiled. "I know we have to keep this quiet, but we won't have to much longer, I promise, just until your out of school."_

 _In the background they could hear the countdown starting. Charlie pulled Padma close and brushed his thumb across her cheek as he started into her dark brown eyes, then at the stroke of Midnight, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. Padma had never been kissed by anyone before and she was glad that her first kiss was with Charlie. His lips was soft but firm and just touched hers lightly at first then after a few seconds added more pressure to deepen the kiss. When Padma felt his tongue run across her lower lip she shyly opened her mouth granting his tongue access but when his tongue darted into her mouth she wasn't sure what to do, so she timidly pulled back._

 _"What's wrong? He asked with confusion written on his face._

 _"I've never kissed_ anyone _before, especially like that. "She whispered turning a very becoming shade of red._

 _"Oh." Charlie said as he smiled. "Well, than I shall have to teach you the proper way to kiss someone." He leaned in and kissed her again, this time getting a better response with her timidly moving her tongue along with his. "See, nothing to it." he said when he pulled back._

 _"You're not disappointed?" She asked._

 _"Not in the least." He leaned in one last time and kissed her again, but quickly broke apart when he heard voices in the hall. Padma recognized her parents voices and Charlie apperated from the room before they came in looking for her. She had told them she missed the countdown due to headache, so she and her family left soon after._

 _After that she and Charlie continued to write each other. When Dumbledore was killed in June she didn't get to stay at Hogwarts long enough for Charlie to see her. Her father came and removed her and Parvati from the school. They still wrote to each other but still hadn't gotten to see each other until this morning._

"Here you go." Charlie said as he sat a plate of eggs and sausage in front of Padma, bringing her out of her thoughts. "It's nothing fancy but it's the best I could do under the circumstances."


	4. Chapter 4 Safe and Hidden

**A/N I do not own any of this. I just use it.**

Chapter 4

Safe and Hidden

"Here you go." Charlie said as he sat a plate of eggs and sausage in front of Padma, bringing her out of her thoughts. "It's nothing fancy but it's the best I could do under the circumstances."

Padma smiled as she picked up her fork and took a bite. "These eggs are really good!"

"You sound surprised. I told you I was good cook." he laughed. "I cook almost as well as I kiss." He added with a smirk.

"Oh, really!" she challenged with a grin. "You think your kisses are better than these eggs. I'm not so sure I agree, so you might just have to..." Padma was cut off by Charlie, who pulled her out of her seat and into a kiss.

She had gasped in surprise when he pulled her up and he used that opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. At first Padma was too surprised to respond, but after a few seconds her tongue began to move along with his. This was the most playful and openly affectionate that she had ever seen Charlie. The few times they had gotten to see each other in the past he had been reserved except for the few kisses on New Years, and if she was being honest she rather liked this side of him. She put her arms around his neck as he slid one arm around her waist pulling her closer while his other hand tangled his other hand into her hair.

Charlie kissed her as if he was trying to devour her. He hadn't seen her in months and he was trying to make up for lost time. 'I could kiss her all day and never get tired of the feeling.' He thought to himself. 'She feels so good in my arms.'

Charlie's thoughts, and his and Padma's kiss, was interrupted by a pop of apparition and the sound of a body hitting the floor with an unladylike grunt behind him. As he pulled his lips away from Padma, who was now wide eyed with fright, he lowered his forehead to rest on hers and then let out a slow breath. "Hello, Tonks." he said without even bothering to turn around.

"Charlie!" said the cheery female voice from the floor. "How ever did you know that it was me?"

"You're the only person I know who is klutzy enough to fall while apparating and still make it in one piece." He said as he dropped his arms from around Padma and turned around. "Anybody else would have been splinched." Charlie reached out his hand and helped to pull the pink haired witch off the floor. "Where is the rest of the Order? Surely they didn't send you here all by yourself."

"Of course they didn't send me by myself. The rest of the group is waiting at the end of the lane. When we arrived and the wards were broken we decided that two people should apparate to the house to make sure that you were here, and that you were really Charlie, and that there wasn't a trap in place, and then send a signal or warning depending on what we found out."

"So how do you know that I really am Charlie?" he challenged.

"Easy, if you had been anybody but you, you would have instantly turned around and pointed your wand at me when I apperated in with a crash. But only one of my oldest and best friends would merely sigh and turn around to help me up. Especially since I interrupted what appeared to be a _great snog._ " she said grinning widely.

"Be glad it was Tonks and me who apperated in here instead of the twins." a male voice said coming from the door leading into the living room. Padma and Charlie spun around to see Remus Lupin grinning and leaning against the door frame.

"Remus."

"Professor Lupin!"

Charlie and Padma both spoke at the same time with the same amount of shock in their voices.

"I'm no longer your Professor, Padma, so please feel free to call me Remus." Lupin said as he smiled at Padma, then to Charlie he said. "The twins are with us and they wanted to be the first to apparate here. If they had caught you snogging, you would never hear the end of it, and since they haven't made a peep about who you rescued, I am assuming that they don't know about your... is this a relationship or merely a relieved reaction."

"Yes, Padma is my Girlfriend." Charlie said defensively. "But due to circumstances we have had to keep it quiet, and would still like it to remain a secret until we we choose to tell everyone."

"Tell everyone what?" said a voice from outside the kitchen window that was always left open in the summer. It turned out to be Fred who stuck his head through it, wiggled his eyebrows and said, "Is it a secret? You can tell me. I won't tell."

"Yes if there is any secrets you can tell us. We love secrets." George said poking his head in beside Fred's.

"We are really good at keeping them." said Fred.

"Unless we can use them to our advantage." George replied.

"Weren't you two idiots supposed to wait on a signal." Tonks said exasperatedly as she rolled her eyes.

"We got bored." said Fred.

"Besides Madeye was getting worried." George replied..

"No I was not." Madeye said a gruff voice from behind the twins. "These two are just impatient. I trust everything is in order and we can come in now."

"Yes, Madeye, you can come in now." Tonks said "We had just finished making sure everything was secure when you got here.

The kitchen door opened and Madeye limped inside followed by the twins, Arthur Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Arthur came over to Charlie and clapped him on the back. "I'm glad you're safe, son, but why didn't you go to your safe house?"

"I would have, but I came back here first because everything had been peaceful and quiet when I left not more than fifteen minutes before. And I would have left when I realized the Death Eaters were here but they heard us and we had to hide."

"I'm assuming they didn't see you." Madeye asked.

"Not at first." Charlie replied,

"What do you mean, not at first?" Tonks asked pointedly.

"When I apperated us here, the wards were already broken, so I apperated right in front of the garden wall. I knew instantly that there was something wrong, because I should have just been able to apparate to the end of the lane. One of the Death Eaters heard my apparition pop and we heard them discussing whether or not to come check it out. Padma and I barely made it over the garden wall to hide when they came out of the house."

" Wormtail (all the eyes around the table narrowed and Lupin made a hissing noise) was insisting that he heard a noise and wanted to check it out. Snape was with him."

"Snape!" the group all replied in an up roar.

"I'll kill that murdering git." Fred said suddenly as serious as anyone had ever seen him.

"Calm down, Fred." said Mr. Weasley.

"Calm down," said George "he got on Voldemort's good side by killing Dumbledore. He must have been doing extra credit work by volunteering to come and kidnap Ginny."

"Well he didn't get her so let Charlie finish." Madeye snapped. "Go ahead." he said to Charlie motioning for him to get on with his story.

"Right," said Charlie "so, Snape belittled Wormtail, but agreed to check out the sound then walked over to the wall right where we were hiding. He looked right at me and Padma then turned and told Wormtail that he didn't see anything but garden gnomes."

"He let you go?" Remus asked, unable to contain the shock in voice. "Why would he do that?"

"After he said he didn't see us, he told Wormtail to go back to You-Know-Who and give a report and that he and Mulciber would light the fires on the Burrow. As soon as Wormtail disapparated, Snape stunned Mulciber and came over to where we were. He told me he didn't have any other choice but to kill Dumbledore. I argued with him and he told me that he had proof. He then said that he had a vault at Gringotts that contained some vials with memories in them and that there was a note to explain everything. And that the key to the vault was hidden in Mum's floo powder pot."

"Have you checked the pot for the key." Madeye asked.

"Not yet. We used mum's extra floo powder from the cabinet to contact you. We decided not try to mess with anything in floo powder pot just in case what he told was some kind of trap."

"Smart." Tonks said. "We need to test it first." She walked over to the fire place and pointed her wand at the pot on the mantel. She cast different spells at the pot and occasionally Madeye would suggest a spell. When they decided that the pot and it's contents was safe and not a portkey or anything dangerous, Tonks fished out the key and brought it to the table.

"This definitely looks like a Gringotts key." Tonks said "But we won't know for sure unless we try it out."

"How do we know there isn't a trap waiting at the Gringotts?" Fred asked.

"We don't. We would just have to show up and see." Said Madeye.

"Why can't we have Bill check it out."Charlie asked. "He works for the bank and with his line of work he could detect and break any curses that could be there.

"Bill could if he were here."said Mr. Weasley. "But we haven't heard from him or Hermione yet. We are assuming that he went to his safe house. He is supposed to contact us in three days to see if it is safe to return."

"Three days will probably be too long to wait, but we may not have much choice. Bill is our best option when it comes to doing things at Gringotts. The goblins wont question him going into someone else's vault, especially if he has the key." Remus said. Then he turned to Charlie. "Did Snape say anything else?"

"Uh, yes actually," Charlie replied sounding a little confused, "he told me that his orders from You-Know-Who was to destroy the Burrow, but that he had no intention of doing so. He said that by not destroying the Burrow it would give dad a way to keep his friends and family safe and hidden."

"Safe and hidden?" Arthur said more to himself than anyone. "Now what could he have meant by... surely he wasn't thinking... no that's impossible?"

"Care to clue us in on the impossible, Arthur?" Madeye said.

"Last summer, after Sirius' death, we were afraid that Grimmauld Place was about to be overrun with Death Eaters, because we wasn't sure if Harry or Bellatrix would be the rightful heir. Dumbledore called a meeting to discuss possible places to have the new headquarters just in case. Snape was sitting beside me, and I made the comment that it would be nice if I could make the Burrow invisible then I could get the Order a hidden headquarters and I could keep my family and friends safe as well as hidden. Snape remarked back that the only way to do that was to do a fidelius charm and since they have to be approved by the ministry, it was almost impossible. And I agreed." Arthur said

"As much as I hate to say it, Snape's right." Tonks said. "You have to go through mountains of paperwork, and then wait months for it to be approved, and that's only if you have the appropriate amount of galleons. Even then you have to be on friendly terms with the higher ups in the ministry for it to get approved."

Just as Tonks finished speaking, a Raven flew through the window and landed on the table. It had a scroll in it's mouth. Everyone at the table stared at it as if in shock, until Madeye reached out and grabbed the scroll. As soon as the scroll was out of it's mouth the raven took flight toward the open window.

For the briefest of a second, Madeye narrowed his eyes at the window, but then turned his attention on the scroll in hand. He slowly unrolled it and as he read the contents his eyebrows shot up as if he couldn't believe what he was reading. He then passed the parchment to Arthur whose reaction was almost identical to Madeye's. He too looked as if he couldn't believe what he was reading.

"What does it say?" Fred asked suspiciously.

Arthur looked up at all the curious faces, "It's a document from the Ministry stating that I have been given permission to place the Burrow and _all_ of its land holdings under the Fidelius Charm."

"Wicked." said Fred and George in unison.

Madeye looked at the two grinning boys and rolled his eyes causing the magical one to start spinning. "Don't you think it's bit odd that we were sitting around talking about getting permission for a Fidelius Charm when a, _raven_ of all things, shows up and just happens to have a scroll giving us to permission for it.

"It could just be a coincidence." Said Fred.

"Or it could be a trap." Moody replied..

"Well if it's not we need to take advantage of the situation." Said Tonks. "If that is an official document we could put the Burrow under the charm and we would have a place to keep everyone safe and new location for headquarters. And it would be totally secret because as of an hour ago, this house was supposed to be destroyed."

"She's right." Remus said. "The Burrow isn't supposed to be standing any longer. You-Know-Who thinks it's been burnt to a crisp. So if he thinks it's gone he won't waste his time or his thoughts on it. It would be even safer than Grimmauld Place, because he and half of his Death Eaters know of Grimmauld place's location and they have proved that even if they can't get inside they still know it's there and can make it hard for us. The Dementors this morning proved that. So if this document is legal we have a way to keep everyone hidden and safe and have a second location for the Order's headquarters.."

"I still say it could be a trap." Madeye repeated.

"If it is a trap, it is a very stupid one." Said Fred. "How thick would you have be to give your enemies a place where they can hide out with no way to get to them."

"Voldie isn't that stupid." George said.

"Well," said Arthur, "I guess the only thing we can do is go to the Ministry and do some checking around and see just how official this is, and then decide from there. Madeye and I can do that. Someone needs to inform Minerva of these recent events and Molly as well. And we need to get the this young lady," he said as he looked at Padma, "to Hogwarts so she can join her parents when they go into hiding."

Everyone but Arthur and Charlie had seemed to have forgotten that Padma was in the room. "We'll have to do a Memory charm as well, she just overhead important order business." Madeye said

"No!" said Padma in a panicked voice as everyone turned to look at her. "I don't want to go in hiding with my parents, and you don't need to do a memory charm. I was a Dumbledore's Army member, and I want to join the Order of the Phoenix but Professor McGonagall says I'm too young. I support Harry, besides I'm certainly not going to give any information to those imbeciles who tried to kidnap me and my sister."

"We can trust her to keep quiet, Madeye." The twins said "We knew her from school and she is definitely not a Death Eater."

"I can vouch for her too." Lupin said before Charlie could speak up in her behalf.

"Fine," said Madeye. "but you may not have much choice about going back to your parents."

"I'm of age, and I have my own vault at Gringotts with an enough to support me for a while. I will go into hiding on my own if I have to but I will not go with my parents."

"Why don't you want to go with your parents?" Tonks asked suspiciously, automatically going into Auror questioning mode.

Padma looked at Charlie who gave her the faintest of nod as if to say go ahead and tell them. "My parents have been trying to marry me and my sister to these two horrible men since we were in fifth year. These men are terrible, and we would have no life what so ever, except to serve them and reproduce. We would just be one of many in a harem of girls. I don't want to have to get married but if I have to go with my parents I won't have any choice."

"Who are you supposed to marry?" Charlie prompted, even though he already knew. He knew that when the others found out that they would never send Padma and her sister to their parents.

"I am supposed to marry Rakesh Nayar and Parvati is to marry his brother Nagendra Nayar."

Madeye, Tonks and Shacklebolt exchanged looks, then Tonks turned back to Padma. "Why don't you and I go find the loo and freshen up while these guys talk amongst themselves."

"Oh, okay." Padma said sounding more than a bit confused.

"What was that about?" Fred asked as the girls turned to leave the room. "I didn't know Tonks was so girly." Charlie reached across the table and cuffed him in the head.

"Shut up and pay attention you big lump." he said "Tonks was getting her out of the room on purpose."

"Oh." said Fred.

"Rakesh and Nagendra are two extremely dangerous men." Madeye said "We have tried on several occasions to catch them but they have always managed to get away. They have more money than anyone I know of and are very well connected to importantly placed people in several countries, and even a few mediocre placed people like Philip Patil. It is rumored that Philip, along with the Nayar brothers, are just as fanatical about pure blood as Lucius Malfoy, and in the last war we know that they supported You-Know-Who and we and believe that Philip Patil is supporting him now as well."

"But the Death Eaters attacked the Patil house this morning?" George said. "If Philip Patil is involved with them, why would they attack."

"If Philip is a Death Eater, it is likely that he probably knew about the attack before hand. It was would have been his way of helping to lure Harry into 'rescue the girls." Madeye said "Then when Harry either didn't show up, or 'failed' to rescue the girls, Philip could claim that the Order and the Ministry had failed to help him, giving the public even more reason to fear of Voldemort, and also have less faith in Potter. Then he could give his girls over to Rakesh and Nagendra and we don't want that to happen either. They have been known to Kill their women and children, without batting an eye. Both brothers believe in keeping magical blood pure. They both have several wives that are pure blooded witches. They marry them, than take away their wands and forbid them to use magic, telling them that they are there just repopulate the Wizarding world. Every time one their wives bears a child they are "rewarded" by having the child taken away, if the child is magical it's taken to a place where it can learn to use it's magic from birth, but if it is born a squib, they kill it and the wife that produced it. If any of the wives are caught using magic or disobeying any order they are tortured and eventually killed. And while Rakesh and Nagendra are blood fanatics, they don't have a problem with taking muggle borns, and half bloods to their torture chambers, to rape, torture and murder them. They take sick pleasure in it."

Arthur looked at Madeye, "Surely we aren't going to let those girls go back to their parents just to turn them over to monsters like that."

"Not if we can help it, now that know who they belong to and who they are intended for." said Madeye. "They will still need to go to Hogwarts this fall but, then we need to come up with a plan to keep them out of the hands of those lunatics. Lupin, you and Tonks take the girl to Hogwarts and tell Minerva everything we have found out today when they return from the loo. Charlie you and the twins go to Grimmauld Place and tell your Mother. Arthur, and I will go find Kingsley and go will go to the Ministry and check and see if this approval is official and to see what we can do to help these girls, then work in finding William so he can sort out the key business. Tell Minerva we will be in contact soon."

Charlie looked at Madeye" Actually, I need to go to Hogwarts with Tonks and Lupin. When Snape got away I got mad a rammed my hand into the garden wall. Padma performed a spell to temporarily fix it, but, I think Madam Pomfrey needs to see it."

"Fine Charlie you go to Hogwarts as well, Tonks can go with the twins."


	5. Chapter 5 The Islands

**A/N I do not own any of the characters, I just use them.**

Chapter 5

The Islands

Light was pouring through cabin's only window when Bill woke up letting him know that he had apparently dozed off while he and Hermione waited for daylight. He looked over at the bed that Hermione had settled onto and saw that she too had fallen asleep. They had both been tired. Bill hadn't been to sleep at all that night. He and Charlie had been on a reconnaissance mission for the Order and had just arrived back at the Burrow to meet with Professor McGonagall and give her a briefing of what they had found, which was nothing, Their spy in Voldemort's camp had been given bad information. Professor McGonagall had been waiting there along with Tonks and Kingsley and once their briefing was done she told himself, Charlie, Tonks and Kingsley that she had a proposal for them, but before he could find out what that proposal was was she received the patronus warning them of the attacks.

When Bill had arrived at the Grangers house Hermione had been a bit sleep addled when he had woken her up from her deep sleep, but after she had gathered her wits she quickly became an asset. He had always heard how well she had handled herself under pressure when she had been in the thick of things with Ron and Harry, and today he wasn't disappointed. Each time they had faced a new dilemma, Hermione had stayed calm and collected and had followed his lead from the beginning and done whatever he asked without question. If she had stopped to argue or question him at any time they would probably be prisoners of Voldemort by now. Hell, Hermione had kept them from get getting attacked by a second dementor in the alley way when he had failed to notice it. Her corporal patronus had been rather impressive. Most adults that he knew couldn't produce one that was so well formed. Of course most adults that he knew, would have panicked, but not Hermione, she stood in that Alley with confidence as her otter charged that second dementor.

As Bills stomach started to grumble he realized that he and Hermione had slept through breakfast. He quietly got up from the chair he was sitting in, stretched his muscles and and started to walk to the kitchen when he heard movement from the bed.

Bill turned as Hermione stretched and opened her eyes before sitting up and looking over at him and smiling sheepishly. "I'm sorry, did I fall asleep?."

"Yes, but it's okay because I did too." Bill said. "I just woke up a few minutes ago."

"How long have I been out?" Hermione asked as she stood up and walked over to the little table.

"Well it's almost noon so a couple of hours." Bill said as he looked at the clock on the wall. " I was just getting ready to try and find food. Are you hungry?"

Hermione nodded and sat down and watched as Bill searched through kitchen cabinets looking for something they could cook.

"It looks like we are at of luck." Bill said apologetically. "I have only been here a time or two since I inherited the place and I haven't really stocked up on supplies, which means we are going to have to go and get some if we want to eat."

"Won't going out be dangerous?" Hermione asked thinking about all the dangers they had already faced that morning.

"Only if we are recognized by the wrong people and I doubt there are any Death Eaters here."  
"And where is it we are, exactly?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Tairnan Island." Bill replied.

"Tairnan Island, South of Cornwall, just outside of the Isles of Scilly?" Hermione asked with interest.

"I see you've heard of it." Bill said.

"We studied it 2nd year in Magical History class." Hermione replied. " Let me see if I can remember...The Island is named after the Celtic Princess Tairnan who had been turned out of her native lands by her brother the king for having magical powers. When Princess Tairnan left she traveled for several years and found several other warriors that had powers like her and taught them all she knew about using their magic. Most of the warriors she taught followed her and after several years she had her own tribe of magical warriors, including her daughter Braith and her Son Ultan. In her travels Tairnan noticed that people with magic powers like her were shunned and scorned and often killed by their own villages and tribes so she decided to travel across the ocean to find a land where they could live without being persecuted. Shortly after they started their journey they ran into a storm and was shipwrecked here on this island. Tairnan and her warriors liked the island so much that they claimed it as their own and killed anyone on the island that didn't have magical powers. Over time the warriors became more peaceful and now the island is one the five islands in Britain that is entirely magical. In fact, in the year four hundred and five, the Ministry of Magic made the island unplottable, so that is why it is technically it's not part of the Scilly Island chain."

"So you have heard of it." Bill teased.

"Yes." Hermione replied. "Isn't Tairnan Island now a popular vacation spot for wizards?"

"Yes, which is why I don't want to go anywhere on this island for supplies; however we could go to the other Scilly Islands. They obviously use muggle money only but there is a bank here on the Island where I can get money exchanged to the proper currency. I think it would be best if I went there myself. I think one person would be less noticeable. Once I can get the money exchanged you and I can apparate directly over to the muggle islands and get whatever we need."

"Are you sure that would be okay?" Hermione asked. "We are supposed to be trying to stay hidden until we know if we are safe."

"No one knows where my safe house is, so even if Death Eaters are going to be looking for us, they more than likely aren't going to be looking on a group of muggle vacation Islands. Most witches and wizards avoid muggle vacation spots like the plague since they can't use their magic, so even if they are looking for us they are probably going to be looking somewhere a little closer to home. We will still be cautious but I doubt anyone is going to find us here, and even if they do we can both just apparate back to the cabin. They can't follow us here since it under fidelius charm."

Almost an hour later, after Bill had visited the bank and gotten both him and Hermione some muggle currency, Hermione and Bill landed on the only apparition spot on the St. Marys Island. It was hidden in a deep spot of a what appeared to be a large garden. As they followed the path that led out of the garden, Bill, who had only had limited interactions with Hermione in the past found himself in an intellectual conversation about magical plants and their properties when Hermione spotted a purple honeyed sage plant mixed amongst the non-magical plants that bordered the path. As they walked they were able to point out several more magical plants that were mixed onto the cluster of muggle plants

Bill, who had heard Ron complain for years about how smart Hermione was, how many books she had read, how much stuff she knew, and how much she constantly talked about how much she knew, found Hermione's intelligence and knowledge refreshing. He himself had done very well at Hogwarts and while he might not have be heralded as the smartest wizard of his age, he was definitely able to hold his own with Hermione, at least in the Herbology area. While Bill silently compared his and Hermione's intelligence as Hermione chattered on about the medicinal uses of the purple honeyed sage Bill noticed that for once, he was actually enjoying himself. While he had been with Fleur he rarely got to have a deep conversation about anything of intellect.

As they walked, Bill thanked the deities that he ended up not marrying Fleur. She was the type of girl who was fun to date, but not one that you should marry. He knew that next time he decided to marry it would be someone more suited to him. Someone who liked to have intelligent conversations, who was independent, ambitious, courageous and someone who loved his family and would fight for the Order and what was right. When he realized that he had just described Hermione he nearly laughed out loud.

When they reached the end of the path they walked for several minutes until they came to one of the Island restaurants. Since neither of them had eaten that day and both were starving, they decided to grab a bite of lunch. From the moment they walked in Hermione fell in love with the Romanian style restaurant. She commented on how the decor of dark wood, vaulted ceilings, and little touches of gilted gold, made her think of a book she had read about Bucharest during its golden age. Bill, who had studied a bit of Romanian History when he found out Charlie was going to be going living in Romania several years before, agreed.

The menu in the restaurant had several different varieties of Romanian dishes including soups and seafood dishes, as well as a few traditional Romanian meals of mamaliga, sarmale, and vinete salata, and of course there were many Romanian beers to choose from on the beverage list. As they ate Hermione found herself chattering on and on about the decor, the food, and how the live romanian music gave the restaurant a very traditional feel. She noticed the longer she talked the quieter Bill became. Several times she tried to engage him conversation about the restaurant and after several failed attempts she apologized.

"I'm sorry." she said."I get carried away sometimes and don't realize that I jabber on like an idiot."

"Don't worry it's not you." Bill said with a smile. " I was just thinking that this was the type of place that Fleur would have dragged me to so that we could make a 'public appearance'. She loved to make public appearances."

"Oh, I really am sorry now." Hermione said sounding even more apologetic. "We can go if want to. I don't want to bring up bad memories."

"Well, actually," he said, "I was just thinking that if I had come here with Fleur, she would have been complaining about every little detail from bad service to over cooked food. She wouldn't have sit back to enjoy the beauty and atmosphere like you have. I can't believe I was so entranced by her that I wanted to marry her."

"Do you still love her?" Hermione asked.

"No." Bill replied." I don't think I really ever did, I was just under her Veela charm. I didn't realize I was under it that deep until the minute it broke, and when it did and she no longer wanted me, I realized that my interest in her was never as deep as she had wanted it to be and wasn't near what I wanted it to be for a person I was going to marry."

"Then it's a good thing you're rid of her, but I do feel sorry for Victor. He deserves much better than her."

"Do you still talk to him?" Bill asked changing the subject. "I know Ron absolutely despised him."

"We were still sending the occasional letter but those have slowed down since I told him I only liked him as a friend."

"So with Ron being just a friend, and Victor being just a friend, who will Hermione Granger fall in love with?" Bill teased in an attempt to lighten the conversation.

"Hermione Granger is in the middle of a war. She doesn't have time to fall in love and she certainly doesn't need the distraction." Hermione responded tartly before turning the question around. "And what about you? Who is Bill Weasley going to fall in love with."

"Someone who likes to have intelligent conversations, who is independent, ambitious, courageous, someone who loves my family and the Burrow as much as I do. It will be someone who will fight for the Order and what is right. Someone who is the complete opposite of Fleur. " Bill said echoing his earlier thoughts.

"Sounds like someone like that would perfect girl for you, but I hate to break it you, you may be out of luck. Tonks and McGonagall are the only ladies in the Order who are single, and Tonks is already already taken." Hermione teased.

"McGonagall it is then." Bill replied with a laugh.

After eating, Bill and Hermione walked around St. Mary's on a self guided tour, taking in a few of the sights before they stopped in at one of the local stores and picked up few grocery items to take back to the cabin. It was dark by the time they returned and despite both of them having a nap earlier that morning, they were both still tired from their night of interrupted sleep so they both decided to call it a night Bill, being the gentleman that he was raised to be, told Hermione she could have the bathroom first and that while she was in there he would transfigure himself a pallet on the floor to sleep on since the cabin only had one bed and no couch and Hermione tried to argue.

"No you take the bed. I couldn't sleep on the bed knowing that you were on the hard floor."

"Well, I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that I had let you sleep on the floor." Bill said gallantly. "And thanks to my job I'm used to roughing it and sleeping on the ground so it's no big deal."

"I still don't like it." Hermione said. " Maybe we could take turns, or just share the bed so there is no argument."

"Absolutely not!" Bill declared. "My mother would have my head for even thinking about sharing a bed with you." It was only after Hermione laughed out loud that Bill realized how that statement had sounded. "You know what I meant." he said defensively.

"Of course I do." she said as she continued to laugh. "You, have realized that Professor McGonagall and Tonks aren't the only single girls fighting against Voldemort who are, intelligent, independent, ambitious, courageous, who loves your family, and the Burrow and will fight for the Order. You have figured out I am all those things and you have been having indecent thoughts about me and now you want to act on them. What you said about sleeping with me was just a Freudian slip. My goodness Bill, what would your mother say?" she admonished jokingly. When Bill rolled his eyes Hermione laughed even harder. "Alright fine, we won't share the bed but since you insist on taking the floor I will take the bed tonight then we can switch tomorrow and I'll take the floor. No arguments."

"Fine." Bill conceded as Hermione walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

When she walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later Bill looked up and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Is that my t-shirt." he asked.

"Uh yes, I found folded up on the shelf in the bathroom. I don't have any pajamas with me so I borrowed this to sleep in. I hope that's okay." She said as a red stain crept her neck and onto her face as she walked over to the bed internally wishing the shirt covered a little more than it currently did.

"Oh, yeah, of course." Bill said quickly. "I just wasn't expecting…I forgot that you didn't have any pajamas. We can get you some tomorrow." he said trying not to look at her as he walked toward the bathroom door. "Guess it's my turn." He said before closing the door behind him.

After Bill came out of the bathroom they both said their goodnights then with a flick of Bills wand the candles that hung on sconces on the wall went out leaving them with just the light from the outside coming through the cabins one window next to the door.

Hermione lay in the dark hoping to fall asleep easily, but sleep wouldn't come. She thought back over the day, and hoped that everyone else was okay. She could only hope her parents had made it to their safe house and was truly safe. She hoped that Charlie and the others were safe as well. She hated not knowing how any of them were. She had put on brave face all day so Bill wouldn't know how worried she was that someone she loved could be in the hands of You-know-who, or could even be dead. She hadn't wanted him treating her with kid gloves and not telling her things, not trusting her to pull her load. Tears formed in her eyes as she thought about her parents and one and leaked out. She sniffed quietly and reached up to wipe it away, but as she did, another tear fell.

Bill sat up from his bed on the floor and looked over at Hermione. He could see her face from the moonlight coming in through the crack in the curtains over the windows. He could see the tears pooling in her eyes, and could see that she was struggling to hold them back. He rose up and sat down on the edge of bed. "Hey, don't cry" he said softly."Everything is going to be fine." Hermione sniffed again.

"I'm sorry." she said "I was just thinking about how awful it is not knowing if my parents and Charlie are truly okay. I know we think they are but what if… what if..." before Hermione could finish her sentence a wave of tears hit that she couldn't hold back.

Bill, knowing she needed to get this out of her system pulled her into a hug and held her, letting her cry. He had saw how strong of a person she was this morning, but he also knew that not everybody could be strong all of the time. He held until she went limp in his arms letting him know that she was finally asleep.

Bill gently laid her back down on her pillow. When tried to ease his arm out from under her she unconsciously threw her arm around him pinning him down with her. He told himself that he would lay there with her for a few minutes until she was sound enough asleep for him to move, and then he would move back down into the floor.


End file.
